Floor-treating machine



Sept. 17; 1929 F. E. WADHAMS FLOOR TREATING MACHINE- Filed Nov. 13, 19262 Sheets-Sheet fill p 1929- F. E. WADHAMS, 1,728,520

FLOOR TREATING mamas Patented Sept. 17, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEFREDERICK E. WADHAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TOLINCOLN-SCHILUETER FLOOR MACHINERY 00., A CORPORATION OF ILLINOISFLOOR-TREATING MACHINE Application filed November 13, 1926. Serial No.148,152.

The present invention has for its object to produce a compact floortreating machine made of a few simple parts, rugged in construction, andeflicient in operation.

The invention relates particularly to small machines supported from thesurface to be treated by the treating el ments and carrying a motor forrotating the treating elements; the machines being adapted to be pushedby hand over the floor or other surface which is being treated. Machinesof this kind are. used for scrubbing, polishing, sanding, sweeping orwaxing floors by means of brushes or other elements having comparativelylarge hearing areas for engagement with the floors. There is always moreor less unevenness in the surface of a floor and therefore, if thetreating elements are compelled to rotate about fixed vertical axes,they will not adapt themselves to the irregularities of the floor,'andcare must be taken to shift the machines in various directions from astraight line travel, in order to permit the treating elements tooperate on all points of the surface of the floor. Furthermore, thetreating elements Vary with the nature of the work and must therefore bechanged in order to provide the proper elements to suit the character ofthe work being done, and they must also be changed when they have becomeworn out.

Viewed in one of its aspects, the present invention may be said to havefor its object to produce a simple and novel means for attaching therotary treating elements of a floor treating machine in such a way thatthey may readily be attached and detached and, while in operation, mayshift their axes of rotation angularlyto compensate for unevenness inthe floor that is being treated whereby the movement of a machine aheadin a straight line will finish all points of the surface lying withinthe area traversed by the machine.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had to: the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with h a comp y n d in h iii i Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a machine arranged in accordance with the presentinvention, the greater portion of the handle being broken away; Fig. 2is a front view of the machine; Fig.3 is a top plan view of the machine,on a larger scale than F igs. 1 and 2,With the top, including the motor,removed; Fig. 4' is a. section taken approximately on line 4-4 of Fig.3, on a larger scale than Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the hubor socket of one of the floor treating members, detached from thelatter; Fig. 6 is a section taken approximately on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;and Fig. 7 is a vertical central section, on an enlarged scale throughthe double hearing for one of the vertical shafts by means of which thetreating elements are rotated.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents an elongated casing in the formof a shallow flat bottom pan, the casing being preferably made of asingle piece of heavy sheet metal pressed into shape. The casing isclosed at the top by means of a. cover 2 that is preferably made of aflat piece of sheet metal having along the edges a flange 3 that willfit around the upper marginal portions of the side walls'of the casing.The cover may be fastened in place by a few small screws 4. One of thelong edges of the casing is the front. Mounted on the cover,symmetrically disposed with respect to the sides or ends, and toward therear of the cover, is a suitable-motor 5 to which may be attached anoperating handle 6 by means of which the machine may be pushed about.Suitable truck wheels 7 may be supported from brackets 8 extendingrearwardly from the underside of the easing.

Within the casing are arranged two large spiral gears 9 and 10 meshingwith each other. The motor shaft 11 extends down' into the casing andhas thereon a spiral pinion 12 made of metal and meshing with the pinion9. With this arrangement, the motor may rotate at a high speed. whilethe gear wheels 9 and 10 revolve at the speed desired for the floortreating elements, withoutthe use of any intermediate speed changing theupper ends of vertical shafts13and 14 thatiextend downwardly throughtliebottom shaped holding members 16 and 17 one lying above and theotherbelow the bottom of the 24are casing. Each holding member has around themouth a flange or rim 18 that rests flat against the bottom of thecasing. Bolts 19 pass through the overlying flanges of the holdingmembers and through the casing bottom that lies between the flanges; theholding members being thus firmly fastened to the casing and firmlyclamped about the bearing housings. I

The construction of the double bearings for the shafts 14 and 15 is bestshown in fig. 7 The bearing housing is in the form of a wide ring havingtwo internal ball races 20 and 21 extending around the same. On theshaft 14, or 15 as the case may be, is fixed a collar 22 containingexternal ball races 24 and 25 facing respectively the races 20 and 21.Arranged between the cooperating races 20 and balls 26, while anotherset of balls 27 runs in the races 21 and 25. Suitable spacing rings 28are provided to hold the balls in each roup or set at the properdistances apart. The double bearings for each of the shafts 14 and 15serve not only as anti-friction bear ings that permit the shafts torotate freely while held against angular movement of any a kind, butthey also serve as thrust bearings totake end thrusts on the shafts, ineither direction. The pressure transmitted through the ball bearings isdistributed by the flanged holding members 16 and 17 over a considerablearea of the bottom of the casing, so that the casing may be-made ofcomparatively light material without danger of distortion under load.The upper sides. of the bearings are exposed within the casing which maybe dust proof; but the underside of each of the bearings is exposed todirt and water from the surface which is being treated. In order toprotect the bearings against the entrances of foreign matter fromunderneath, I place around the shafts 14 and 15, underneath thebearings, a packing 29 of felt or the like, this packing beingconveniently held in place by a small. sheet metal gland 30 extendingthrough an opening in the bottom of the cup-' shaped holding member 17.

'Each of the shafts 14 and 15 has an enlarged lowerend 32 lying belowthe bearing. Near the lower end of each of the parts 32 is a cross pin33 that projects at both ends.

Above the pin 33 is a loose washer 34, and

portion of the hub across the diameter of the opening 39, this slothaving a width slightly greater than the diameter of the pin 33. The

hub is undercut at each side of the slot, to form four seats, asindicated at 41, the vertical height of the seats being somewhat greaterthan the diameter of the pin 33.

In applying a treating element to the supporting shaft therefor, thelower end of the shaft is insertedin the opening 39,with the pinregistering with the slot 40. The shaft is then pushed down until thepin reaches the undercuts 41, and is given a quarter turn to lock thetreating element and shaft together. As the shaft is pushed down intothe socket, the washer 34 is arrested by the top of the socket, so as tocompress the spring. Therefore, when there is no weight on the treatingelement, the spring forces the latter down until the pin is frictionallyheld against the touch either the overhanging or underlying portions ofthe hub or socket. When the mo tor is set in operation, the treatingelements are compelled to revolve with the shafts, but

cannot accidentally become detached therefrom. By making the openings 39in the hubs or sockets tapering, the treating elements are permitted towobble on the driving shafts so as to accommodate themselves toundulations in the floor.

It will thus be seen that my improved machine is very simple but ruggedin construction, that it will operate with a minimum of noise and willoperate as effectively on uneven floors as on even floors; the bodybeing made of two simple stampings; there being only threegear elements,one on the driving shaft and the others 611 the two driven shafts,

and there being no metal tometal contact between the gear elements; thedriven shafts having bearings securely supported from the bottom of thebody member and permitting free rotation of theshafts under end thrustsand holding the shafts against endwise movements; and the treatingelements being easily attached and detached and, in use, being capableofadjusting themselves to unevenness in the surface that is beingtreated.

It Wlll also be seen that by providing the hub with undercuts or seatson both sides of each end of the slot 40, the treating elements may belocked to their shafts by turning them either to the-right or to theleftafter the pins have been pushed down into the slots. This is ofadvantage in that the two floor treating elements may be interchangedafter wear takes place, with the pins always lying in the seats ahead ofthe same in the direction of ro tation of the treating elements. In thecase of brushes, the bristles in time will tend to assume a horizontalposition so that the sides of the bristles, instead of the ends engagethe floor. Therefore, before the bristles have taken a permanent set outof the vertical positions, the brushes may be interchanged so as toproduce a tendency to swing the bristles in the opposite direction fromthe vertical. In the case of a sanding element, rotation in onedirection dulls the edges on one side of the grains of sand; and, byinterchanging the two elements, the opposite, sharp sides of the grainsare brought into play.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a singlepreferred form of my invention, I'do not desire to be limited to theexact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend tocover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of myinvention constituting the appended claims.

I claim: I

1. In a'floor treating machine, a body member having a verticalrotatableshaft projecting downwardly therefrom, a floor-treating elementhaving a central tapered opening smallest in diameter at the lower endand a slot extending into the same diametrically of v said opening andundercut at opposite sides of the opening, a cross pin on the lower endof v of the slot, a shoulder on the shaft above the floor treatingelement, and acompression spring between said shoulder and the top ofsaid floor, treating element.

2. In a floor treating machine, abody member having a vertical rotatableshaft projecting downwardly therefrom, a floor-treating element having acentral vertical bore and a slot extending diametrically of the bore,there being undercuts or seats at opposite sides of each end of the slotbeside said bore, a cross pinon the lower end of the shaft having adiameter small enough to permit it to pass into the slot and not asgreat as the vertical height of the undercuts or seats, a shoulderon'the shaft above said element, and a compression spring between saidshoulder and the top of said element. 7

In testimony whereoLI sign this specification.

FREDERICK E. WADHAMS.

